About Me

Author of The Glass Character, a novel about the life and loves of silent screen comedian Harold Lloyd. Loved writing this book, love Harold! The Glass Character was published by Thistledown Press in spring 2014, and is NOW available in both paper and ebook form through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Thistledown Press.ca, and everywhere fine books are ordered over the internet. Harold is already generating lots of excitement, and the DVD of his famous clock-dangle from Safety Last made everyone howl at the book launch. I'm also the author of two other well-received novels, Better than Life (NeWest Press, 2003) and Mallory (Turnstone Press, 2005). My (ongoing) process/spiritual biography: writer from the start. Obsessed with the word. Climbing that mountain, sliding down, climbing up again. Most gratifying quote: "Better Than Life is fiction at its finest" - Edmonton Journal

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Tardigrades: the terror

From Charlie Nadler's blog:

Tardigrades are harmless.

Fiction. While most of us will
probably never be personally assaulted by a tardigrade, this does not
mean that they are harmless. In fact, their very existence is deeply
detrimental to our mental health. We understand that there’s virtually
no escape from these water bears; they’re hiding beneath the ice in the
Arctic Ocean, at the top of the Himalayas, in our backyards, and
everywhere in between. Even if we can’t see them, we can feel their
presence and sense that they are awaiting our demise. Their silence is
deafening.

As humans, we struggle to cope with this dark reality;
the long, sinister shadow cast by tardigrades shapes our identities and
prevents us from forming “healthy relationships” with other people. We
often find ourselves unable to sleep, our minds victims of the night as
they become caught in infinite water bear thought-loops. In our moments
of weakness, we can’t help but wonder: What if there was a pill or an
elixir we could take that would transform us from human to tardigrade?
Would we consider taking such a thing? Perhaps, if we did take it, we
would realize that we have in fact been living a lie; that, all along,
we were actually tardigrades trapped in human bodies. Once corrected to
our true form, we would command respect from our fellow tardigrades and
be elected to a prestigious position with much responsibility. The
important work we’d accomplish would earn admiration from our peers and
maybe even the love of a beautiful female water bear with whom we could
settle down and start a family. Our parents would finally see that we
aren’t the disappointments they always thought we were. For the first
time in our lives, we’d feel accepted, appreciated, and loved.